


Weekend Getaway

by HiddenTreasures



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Episode: s04e10 Midnight, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-18
Updated: 2016-07-18
Packaged: 2018-07-24 20:16:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7521601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenTreasures/pseuds/HiddenTreasures
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What was supposed to be a relaxing vacation quickly goes pear-shaped aboard a tour bus meant to take the Doctor and Rose to see the famous sapphire waterfalls of Midnight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Weekend Getaway

**Author's Note:**

  * For [badwolfrun](https://archiveofourown.org/users/badwolfrun/gifts).



It was supposed to be a relaxing weekend trip. The Doctor piloted them to one of the grandest resorts in the universe—The Leisure Palace. He and Rose had spent most of yesterday taking advantage of the couple’s spa treatments, as per Rose’s request, which meant today had been the Doctor’s choice, and he had wanted to take a tour of the planet’s renowned sapphire waterfalls. Oh, how he wished he could erase the last few hours and instead suggest a day in. They could be cuddled in a hot tub sipping what passed as a mimosa on this planet.

Instead, the Doctor watched with growing frustration as the passengers threatened to throw Sky off the bus as they all spoke over one another, with Sky parroting back everything that was said. Sometimes he really hated humans and the way they reacted to their fear. If he could just calm them down…

“Now, listen to me,” he said, trying to ignore the prickle across his scalp as Sky repeated him exactly. “Listen to me right now, because you need me, you need _us_.” He cast a quick glance back at Rose. _How are you doing, love? Barriers still holding?_

 _So far so good, I think_ , she answered, sending him a pulse of comfort and love, which he took a moment to bask in.

“Right,” he said, turning back to the passengers. “If we are going to get out of this, then you need me.”

“So you keep saying,” Professor Hobbes said warily. “You’ve been repeating yourself more than her.”

“If anyone’s in charge, it should be the Professor. He’s the expert,” Val said sharply.

“Oh, please!” Rose scoffed, stepping up towards the woman, as Jethro tried to get their attention. “The Doctor is the only one who has been trying to get us out of this mess! And unless you start cooperating, there’s not much he can do to save you!”

“Look!” Jethro said insistently. “Just look at her!”

Rose turned to where Jethro was pointing. Sky. She was still crouched on the floor, but there was something…off. Her eyes seemed colder, her countenance smugger, and she was only staring at Rose.

“She’s stopped!” Dee Dee observed.

Rose exhaled in relief. Maybe this whole nightmare was about to end. But a quick warning from the Doctor had her on high alert again.

“She looks the same to me,” Val said, before a look of relief crossed her face. “No, she’s stopped. Look, I’m talking and she’s not.”

One by one, the passengers all spoke and they were all pleased to see that Sky had stopped repeating them.

“Has she really stopped, Doctor?” The Doctor’s blood ran cold as Sky’s voice echoed Rose’s.

“No, no, no,” he whispered, dreading the silence that followed his voice. Why was it still latched on to Rose, and Rose alone? “Sky, what are you doing?”

Sky was staring past him and at Rose, who was creeping steadily towards them.

“Rose, stay back!” he ordered, frantically working to shore up her telepathic barriers.

His hearts nearly stopped when he realized there was something in her mind that wasn’t purely Rose. How had it slipped by unnoticed?

 _Doctor?_ she asked, feeling his fear and desperation as his mind sparked brighter in hers. _Doctor, what’s going on? What’s happened?_

He didn’t answer, but instead dove into her mind and tried to pull the shadow out of her. She winced in discomfort, and the Doctor was horrified to see that something had engrained itself so completely in her telepathic centers that he wouldn’t be able to tear it out without tearing out Rose’s mind, too.

“Doctor?” she asked again, touching his shoulder. They both shuddered when Sky echoed her perfectly. “Sky, what are you doing? Why have you let the others go?”

The Doctor could hear the hushed murmured of the passengers behind him, but he blocked them out as he tried to think of a way to save Rose.

“Rose, stop speaking,” he begged.

“Why, what’s wrong? Why hasn’t she let me go? Doctor, what’s happened? Can you fix it?” A look of pure horror crossed Rose’s face, and her telepathic presence in her mind suddenly dulled as something cold and greasy took its place. “I think…I think something’s gone wrong…”

He heard the collective gasps of the passengers behind him as Sky spoke before Rose.

“Did you hear that? Mrs. Silvestry spoke first! How can that be?”

“No, no, no. Please,” the Doctor whispered as he tried to tug Rose into a standing position, but her muscles were all locked, keeping her frozen in a crouch. “Rose? Rose! Rose, please!”

He dove into her mind and screamed at this unknown entity to let her go, to take him instead. But he felt a foreign spike of malice and malevolence that started to twine itself around his mind, too, using their bond as a link between him and Rose. He jerked away from Rose, physically and telepathically, as anger burned brightly through him as their bond was violated and taken advantage of.

“Rose, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he whispered, sending her one final pulse of love. “I’ll fix this. I promise.”

He pressed his lips to her forehead as he securely barricaded away the piece of her mind that was inside of his own. Silent tears were streaking down her cheeks and her half of the bond clamored in his head, searching for him but finding nothing but his barriers.

He hated himself for it, and he wished he could take it all into his own head so it would leave Rose alone, but he knew he couldn’t. He’d seen how it could splice itself to stay in its host while also spreading to another mind. He couldn’t open his mind to her without being overrun himself.

He stood on wobbly legs and turned to face Sky, who was being embraced by the rest of the passengers.

“Let her go!” the Doctor ordered coldly. “I’m warning you. Let her go, _now_!”

His mind throbbed for Rose—blocking and being blocked by a bondmate was excruciating, and he knew it was more painful on Rose’s end, because she also had a foreign telepathic presence in her mind ramming itself against his barriers, trying to break through. He feared his shields wouldn’t hold for long; they were weakening the longer he held them in place, and he could feel several chinks in them that the entity was exploiting.

“But I’m free,” Sky said, and the Doctor shivered as the words echoed hauntingly from Rose’s mouth. He could see the fear in her eyes and the tension in her neck as she tried with all her might to stop parroting, but it was no use. “It’s let me go. It’s now in her. You shouldn’t be so close to her. She’s dangerous. She’ll infect you. She’ll infect us all!”

The Doctor listened with pounding hearts as the passengers echoed Sky’s malice towards Rose, and he listened as Rose’s forced mimicking fueled their fear as well as his own.

“Stop it!” he shouted, standing up and turning towards the passengers. “Stop it all of you! I swear by all the gods that exist that I will throw you all out of the airlock before I let any one of you touch her!”

That seemed to spook a few of the passengers, but Val was still yelling at her husband, who was then yelling at the professor, that Rose needed to be thrown off the bus while they still had the chance.

“Over my dead body,” the Doctor said through gritted teeth, his face mere inches from Val’s.

“So be it,” Val snarled, her eyes wide with fear. “We’ll throw you out too!”

He exhaled impatiently at Val before he turned away from the group and returned to Rose’s side. He knelt down in front of her, catching her gaze immediately. The fear and agony shining in her eyes made him feel sick.

“I’m going to fix this,” he promised fervently.

He stroked his thumb across the apples of her cheeks as he looked her directly in the eye. Rose’s side of the bond suddenly flared white-hot in his head, making him cringe in pain and fear. He felt their bond starting to break through his barriers. But rather than the cold, oily presence of the entity, he felt the warmth and familiarity of Rose bleeding through the cracks.

 _Rose?_ he whispered.

He traced a trembling hand across her jaw as he reached out for her, despite the logical part of his brain shouting at him to stop. But how could he stop? His bondmate was scared and in pain, and every fiber of his being screamed at him to fix it and make her feel better.

_Doctor, help me! Please, help me! Please!_

_I will_ , he vowed. The overwhelming fear she was projecting made his eyes sting with tears. _I swear, Rose, I will make it go away._

A chill rippled down his spine as he felt a coldness seeping across his mind. He cursed under his breath as he forcibly re-erected his barriers with a rapidity that gave him intense vertigo as he once more locked himself away from his bondmate. He chided himself for ever letting his barriers down in the first place. The entity had hidden itself in Rose’s telepathic presence and he hadn’t realized it had begun to infiltrate his mind too.

He felt Rose’s anguish and desperation as he started locking her away again, and his hearts broke in his chest. He nearly said _sod it_ , and nearly dove into Rose’s mind to offer her the comfort they both needed, but he couldn’t. Not yet. Not until her mind was her own again.

 _I’m sorry. I love you, Rose_.

And he locked her out again.

Hurt and rejection and anger burned behind her eyes, making the Doctor flinch away in shame.

Meanwhile, behind him, the group was still talking about throwing Rose out, but he had reached his limit. This had gone on for far too long. Time was up, and whatever was attacking Rose was out of chances.

He grabbed Sky forcibly around the waist and dragged her towards the exit.

“What are you doing?!” Sky screamed, echoed by Rose as well as the passengers as they watched in disbelief as he opened the door. Bright, white light flooded through the cabin, and the Doctor mentally counted to six before he shoved Sky completely out of the vehicle as he jumped away from the door.

Rose’s echoed screams suddenly cut off, and he felt the wrongness in his mind evaporate completely, leaving only the pain of a blocked bond. He heard a soft thump, and he spun around to see Rose curled up on her side on the floor with her hands cradling her head.

“Rose!”

He rushed over to her as he carefully unpeeled the walls he had built to keep Rose out of his head. Her telepathic presence washed over him, warm and golden and beautiful, even as he could see the raw edges where the entity had forced its way into her mind. He helped her into a seated position, before he grabbed her and pulled her into his lap.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he whispered, a lump lodging in his throat. He pressed his forehead to hers as he tried to soothe away her pain.

 _You left me!_ she shouted, making him cringe. _You left me alone with that thing!_

 _I know, I know,_ he said miserably, his eyes stinging with tears. _I’m so sorry, Rose. I did the best I could. If I could have taken it out of you at the start, I would have. You know I would have. I tried to take it out, but I couldn’t! And I couldn’t let it take over me, too. I needed to keep you safe, and I couldn’t do that if I were frozen, too. I’m so sorry, Rose. Please, forgive me?_

He felt her anger fade as abruptly as it came, and he felt her remorse and her forgiveness.

_I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I know you did everything you could. But I just…I feel so…it…_

A sob bubbled out of Rose’s mouth, and he held her tighter as he blinked away the burning sensation behind his eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she buried her face in his shoulder.

 _Shhh, I’ve got you_ , he murmured, pressing his lips lightly to her temples again and again. His hearts ached as he looked over the devastation of her ransacked mind, before a righteous fury took its place. How dare anything attack his Rose, his bondmate?

He ran a gentle touch across the torn edges of her telepathic centers, carefully stitching it back together again. She moaned in relief as he worked. As gentle as he tried to be, he knew her mind would be aching for a few days until it healed. Anger bubbled up inside him once more, anger at the universe, at this planet, at the entity, at himself.

 _Stop_ , Rose whispered, reaching out for him despite her wounded mind. _S’not your fault._

 _Yes, it is_ , he replied, just barely getting a grip on his fury so as not to hurt Rose further. _I wanted to see the waterfalls, I…_

 _Doctor, you didn’t make that thing attack me_ , Rose said. _It wasn’t your fault. You saved me_.

She pulled back from the embrace to look him in the eye, to let him see that she didn’t blame him in the slightest. But before she could say anything, a shadow fell over them both. The Doctor reluctantly looked up to see Val standing over them. His anger boiled through him again, just barely being held in check by Rose’s calming presence.

“Get away from us,” he warned quietly when he saw Val open her mouth to speak. “Just…stay away. All of you.”

Whatever Val had been about to say was silenced by the clicking of her teeth as she snapped her mouth shut. She nodded her head and walked away from them. The Doctor glared warningly at all of the passengers in turn before he returned his attentions back to Rose.

He wrapped his arms around her waist loosely and rested his head against the wall he was leaning against as Rose tucked her head against his chest. The Doctor desperately wanted to dive deep into Rose’s mind, to assure himself that she was really okay, but kept himself on the surface only, not wanting to cause her any more pain than she was already experiencing.

 _You’re not hurting me_ , Rose commented as she asked permission to go deeper into his mind. _You make it better, Doctor. You always do. Unless…I mean…I would understand if you don’t really want to be in my head right now. I don’t want to be in my head right now. Bit of a mess. Sorry._

 _Rose, no!_ he exclaimed fervently, tightening his grip around her waist as he leaned forward to pepper a series of kisses across her face. _That’s not it at all! I just know what it’s like to have your mind forcibly invaded, is all. And sometimes you just want your mind to yourself for a bit. That’s all, love, I swear._

Rose sniffled as her mind asked permission once more to go further into his mind. He accepted her immediately, and carefully curled his mind around hers, infusing warmth and comfort everywhere he could.

 _I love you_ , he whispered, planting telepathic kisses all along the jagged edges of her mind. _I love you so much, Rose. Oh, I was so scared!_

_I know. Me too. But it’s over now. We’re okay Doctor. But if it’s all the same to you, d’you think we could cancel the rest of our weekend and just go home?_

The Doctor chuckled lightly as he vehemently agreed, continuing to shower her in love and comfort.

Rose returned his telepathic kisses, stroking a soothing touch across his mind to try and offer him the same comfort he was offering her. Rose sighed contentedly, feeling at peace for the first time since the trip went pear-shaped, as the rest of the world faded away to nothing, leaving her and her Doctor alone in their embrace.

 


End file.
